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Christie on Saudi-Canada human rights dispute

August 8, 2018

CFAX

School of Humanitarian Studies Prof. Ken Christie joined Adam Stirling on CFAX to discuss the evolving diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia over human rights. The Saudi Ministry of Education cancelled training programs, scholarships and fellowships in Canada after a tweet from Canada’s Foreign Affairs department criticized Saudi Arabia’s arrest of social activists.

Here is an excerpt:

“[Saudi Arabia is] on this enormous PR exercise around the world to try and prove to the world that they’re more free, more liberal, more tolerant than people previously thought. A lot of it is window dressing, so when they get these accusations about human rights (…) they are immediately extremely sensitive, especially over things like tweets. ”